Report: Top officials at Kentucky prison claimed pay for hundreds of hours they didn’t work
Two top officials at a Kentucky prison left their jobs earlier this year after investigators determined they were getting paid for hundreds of hours they weren’t actually working, according to newly released state documents.
On Feb. 22, the Kentucky Department of Corrections fired Charles Craig Hughes, who made $98,315 a year as the warden of Southeast State Correctional Complex in Floyd County. Hughes was named warden in 2021.
Danny Dean McGraw, who made $76,094 annually as the prison’s deputy warden, resigned the same day.
The Herald-Leader reported in March on the men’s sudden departure from the medium-security prison. But at that time, the Department of Corrections refused to provide an explanation.
The Herald-Leader obtained internal investigative documents this week through the Open Records Act. The documents show that the department, acting on a tip in February, looked back at Hughes and McGraw’s state vehicle usage and daytime locations for much of the year 2023 and early 2024.
The department compared that information against their self-reported work time-sheets for the same period. As a result, investigators concluded the two men claimed working many hours they actually didn’t work.
Specifically, Hughes claimed 369.5 hours that he did not work between Jan. 2, 2023, and Feb. 12, 2024, investigators wrote. McGraw claimed 173.25 hours that he did not work between April 19, 2023, and Feb. 12, 2024, they wrote.
“It should be noted that both former staff members displayed a pattern of claiming overtime when not completing the required eight hours of work per day,” investigators added in their report.
In addition to their salaries, both men were provided with state-owned housing on prison grounds, according to the investigative report. Hughes lived in a house on the campus of Northpoint Training Center in Boyle County while McGraw was given a house on the campus of Little Sandy Correctional Complex in Elliott County.
Neither man could be reached for comment this week.
In a statement to the Herald-Leader, Morgan Hall, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, said: “As is standard for Department of Corrections leadership, upon learning of any employee misconduct swift corrective action is taken and a full investigation is conducted.”
Southeast State Correctional Complex is a 111-acre campus with nine buildings in the Wheelwright community of Floyd County that is owned by CoreCivic, a private prison company. It’s leased to the Department of Corrections, which operates it as a state prison. About 600 state prisoners are housed there this week.
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